hands of law enforcement and the military, and not in the civilian hands at all. and we want to ban them from possession in our city of san francisco. so, we're introducing legislation aimed at that kind of ballistics ammunition and banning them from possession in our city. the second piece of legislation is we believe that any person who purchases more than 500 rounds of any type of ammunition, notice should go to our police chief so that we have time to investigate as to reasons why that purchase should be made and understand who is making it. so, we are introducing a second piece of legislation about notification to our police chief of any of that kind of high level of purchase. these are at least two things that we are introducing today. there are potentially more to come, but we wanted to begin by taking action on this.

and i stand here in front of you with a full display of some of the armory that was collected, turned in by people with the incentive of providing them with some remuneration of these weapons that were in their homes or other types of possession of this. and, of course, some of the ammunition that we will let you see that is not just body piercing, but designed to even be even more destructive. that's the reason why i have dr. campbell here. there have been many occasions, doctor, that i've been very thankful for you and your expert way of treating our patients whether firefighters or police officers are injured. but he has seen more than he should ever see of young -- youth who are victims of these bullets and the guns that we are talking about today. and he wants to explain the human side of this with our

public health department officials. but i'd like to have further testimony by supervisor cohen of her experience and her leadership in helping me establish this. i will want to again put it in context that our city wants to intervene at an earlier stage. we want to do predictive policing. we want to support efforts throughout our community to organize them better so that we can prevent violence. this was at the heart of our work, introducing more support for our domestic violence advocates as well that we did just a few weeks ago. that with the heightened awareness of guns and the kinds of things that happen nationally, this is consistent with what we're willing to do. so, let me introduce at this time a good partner and the one that will be introducing this at the board, supervisor malia cohen. >> thank you.

thank you, mr. mayor, for your leadership. and chief, thank you for your continuing efforts to be a tremendous advocate and partner. and our collective effort to address gun violence in our city. as the mayor mentioned, the tragic event that occurred at sandy hook elementary school last week was truly horrifying. and painful for all of us to sit back and witness. but i'm here today not to speak of last week's events in connecticut, but i'm here today because of the phone calls that i regularly get from many of the police officers that are here in this room today in the middle of the night. department officers informing me and alerting me of the violent shootings that are happening right here in our own neighborhood. i'm here today because i have personally visited too many families as they grieve the loss of loved ones, largely due to gun violence. i'm here today because of the time that i've spent at general hospital consoling innocent victims of gun violence, some as young as five years old.

i'm here because we have to do more and use every legislative and executive power that are available to us to continue to address the causes as well as the impacts of senseless gun violence occurring in our neighborhoods. now, what we know is that many of the shootings that are occurring are increasingly involving young adults under the age of 25 years old. they are often related to disputes over turf and status and they're fueled by the fact that it's easy to obtain -- too easy to obtain and possess military style assault weapons and hollow point ammunition. as you will hear today from dr. campbell, thea hollow type ammunition especially [speaker not understood] to victims because the ammunition is designed to expand and shred an individual's internal organs upon impact, making it nearly impossible for a medical professional to repair and save lives. last week i had the pleasure of

joining the police department as well as our community partner the omega boys club headed by dr. joe marshall and one of the most successful gun buy back programs. we collected approximately 2 96 guns off the street, 300 we were able to get guns off of out of hands of folks. not just in the southeast neighborhood, but all across san francisco. and i think we have a collective understanding that there is a growing awareness on the part of san franciscans about the need to do more to address gun violence and to believe -- and i believe that there is a desire for us as elected officials to take greater steps in implementing institutional solutions to these issues. * these weapons and this ammunition over here to my right don't belong in the hands of san francisco and online suppliers, online suppliers have an obligation to disclose to law enforcement officers information about residents

buying large amounts of this lethal ammunition. i just want to say thank you for being here. i look forward to introducing this legislation. as soon as we hit the ground running in january. i appreciate your support, mr. mayor, and i look forward to continuing to working together. thank you. * >> thank you, supervisor. chief has been a great partner in not only law enforcement, with ideas of what else we could do. * chief sur i'm going to ask the chief to come up and talk about why we need to ban this ammunition, what it takes to create a system where we have reporting of individuals or entities that might want to buy 500 rounds of ammunition, and why it's important that that get reported. in addition to the very successful gun buy back that supervisor cohen had mentioned, there's also other things that we are doing as well. i have instructed chief sur to

make sure we introduce to the new cadets in the police academy as well as retrain every officer in our police department on school safety tactics in light of the sandy hook elementary school disaster. and he's going to do that. it's already begun. the curriculum is being designed for that. that's as important, making sure that we work in concert with our school district to make sure every campus is safe. that means school safety tactics have always been around, gets a refreshed training by everyone. chief suhr. >> thank you, mr. mayor. i want to start off by reassuring everybody that what you saw play out on television, however unimaginable it was, that the heroism and the courage of the teachers at that school and the actions of the officers to respond directly in was a product of training after the columbine incident in colorado.

across this country, all law enforcement agencies have been trained not to wait when there is an active shooter, but to go in immediately. and you actually saw that play out on television. and i think that for them doing that coupled with the fact that the teachers did as they were trained, and secured in place versus evacuating those kids into the hallways, had what is a horrific tragedy as far as it went, being far less than it might have been as a result of that training. as the mayor said here in san francisco, we have also trained to that standard. and as we're going through a high right now where we'll pick up a thousand police officers over the next six years, they, too, will be trained to that standard. * hire we've developed a crisis management handbook that's online and the link has been sent to every school in san francisco so that they can refresh their training on secure in place. there is a time to evacuate and then there's a time to stay put, wait as it was said in the media, to wait for the good guys.

so, they did that in sandy hook and it saved lives. we will do that exact same thing should that event happen at any point in san francisco, and we're going to train so that that's the case for as long into the future as we can see to keep our kids safe. i, like supervisor cohen, want to applaud the mayor's leadership on this, to identify the most lethal ammunition, and to have allow the citizens to allow the police department to maintain the database. being the first city in the country to make that ammunition illegal as you will hear later, dr. campbell from probably the best trauma ward in the country will tell you what that ammunition does to people when they are hit by it. and then, again, to ask for a reporting on people that purchase as much or more as 500 rounds of ammunition so we cannot only track those people that are buying ammunition, but frequency of purchase as you

can stockpile that ammunition. it is not going to be the -- any sort of suspension of the constitution. this is just smart, thoughtful community coming together with law enforcement so we know what people are doing and a simple question can be asked and if it's for target practice, that's fine as long as it's not the most lethal ammunition. the leadership in this country, you know, we've been divided for a while over small ideas and now we're coming together unfortunately after this tragedy over a big idea. and that's gun control. can't tell you how much the major city police chiefs of this country support the mayor. senator feinstein, congress, state senators, and mayors like mayor lee that we're fortunate to have, on gun control. senator feinstein will re-submit the assault weapons ban which bans 100 specific assault rifles, including the weapon used in sandy hook and

high-capacity magazines of 10 rounds or more. there's other things that we as major city chiefs would like to see happen, such as the banning of internet ammo sales. we'd like to see in-person transactions. the record of sales and licensing of ammo vendors, and other things i can talk to you about off line. we are doing everything we can to make san francisco a safer place and reduce violent crime. the mayor spoke of ipo, which he introduced at the very beginning of august. and for the first august in memory and maybe even on record, we suffered zero homicides in that month. unfortunately one homicide in the city is too many. we've had 67 this year to date, which is up over the last couple years, record low. still the best we've had in 10 years absent those record lows. gun violence is down 4% in san francisco. largely because of community

partnership. things like our gun tip line which i'll give you, 575-4444 and things like the gun buy back program. if you don't think that one of these guns or any of the other 2 96 * guns that were recovered here of the 300 guns that chief howard jordan and youth uprising were able to get over there weren't going to fall into the hands of somebody that might use them, you're betting against the odds. the shooter in newtown, connecticut, got those guns from his home, legally purchased firearms. we took 2 96 guns off the street here thankful to dr. joe marshall and omega boys club. over 150 handguns, almost 150 rifles and shotguns, these are not what people keep saying aren't going to make a difference. this is absolutely making a difference. and i would say to the nra or

anybody that says, hey, this isn't the problem, if it's not the problem, it will make a difference, it should make a difference banning them. let's err on the side of caution, keep the kids safe. thank you. >> let me also echo again my appreciation for commissioner dr. joe marshall because omega boys club has been a great partner. they are part of our effort to organize commutes, to intervene as early as we can, and i totally agree with the chief that these particular guns, if you look at them up front and close, you'll see they really shouldn't be in anybody's homes. they're designed to kill folks. many of them military style. i think to bring home the real story here is dr. andrei campbell of our san francisco general hospital, and also on staff at ucsf. he is at the forefront of world class trauma center that we have. and if you go day to day, and

certainly with the 67 homicides that we have with the numbers of bodies that were showing up and people have shown up, many of which he saved, many of which he couldn't save that were victims of bullets and violence and gun violence in our city, you know that that's another good reason as to why we need to do as much prevention as we can. dr. campbell. >> good afternoon, mayor lee, supervisor cohen, chief suhr, members of the press. my name is dr. andrei campbell and i've worked at san francisco general hospital for the past 19 years as a trauma surgeon. before i came to san francisco i worked in new york. i have 24 years of experience of caring for victims in two major cities in our great country. this week all of us have watched with horror the events in newtown, connecticut, with great sadness as we learned the

devastation that one person brought on that quiet community. i've seen the devastation that guns have visited on victims of crime. my heart goes out to all the victims and their families as they struggle to understand what has happened over the last week. san francisco general hospital is the only trauma center in the city and county of san francisco and in the u.s. it is, in fact, i think, the best trauma center in the united states. we stand ready 24/7 to care for any injured patient in the city and county of san francisco. we also at general hospital are caring for uninsured and underinsured people who come in after injured. we also represent -- i also represent thousands of dedicated physicians, surgeons, nurses, administration and therapists who care for the hundreds of thousands of patients who come to our hospital. i have dedicated my life to providing care for injured patients in our community. it is truly a team effort to provide care for the victims of vie lertctionv crime. we rely heavily on our many trained professionals 20 help us do our work each day.

after persons injured due to shooting after the scene, people go there, public firefighters and servants. the trauma surgeons, emergency physicians anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, nurses, therapists and many, many others who come to help us work on the patient. and we do this for every single person who is injured. we bring all the resources there. we can to make sure we can save as many people as we can each day. the reality and sadness is we may save many, but we can't save everyone. over the years i have seen massive increase in the fire power witnesses before you today. these guns are more powerful and destruction are profound. from ak-47s, other assault-style weapons, hand gun, extended clips, hollow point bullets, black talon weapons, bullets and other things like that, i've seen them and the work that -- the

problems they cause each day. the larger weapons create absolute devastation in the victims. when they strike a victim, it's like a bomb going off. i struggle with all the dedicated team members to save their lives as it's real a a battle against life and death. sometimes they have overwhelming mortal wounds and i cannot save them. we save a lot, but we can't save everyone. they have massive chest, abdominal, leg, head wounds that become -- that are the consequences of these large weapons in froth of you. -- front of you. they are the victims, but their families that are also injured when or have problems after the shooting. when a victim dies it leaves a hole in the family. they can't ever forget the devastated mothers, father's, sisters, brothers, that are struggling with loss. the way of a mother is unique sound as she screams, my baby is dead, my baby is dead.

* wail it is a terrible sound, i wish i would have to never hear it again. part of the process of making sure these lethal weapons are off the street. if we save the patient, they have to deal with many operations, icu care, post tau matt he -- posttraumatic stress. head injuries, disfiguring operations and long-term care and many, many other serious problems. we cannot forget the physical scars, but there's also emotional scars after they are injured. at san francisco general hospital a number of gunshot wounds has declined in recent years. in 2007 we cared for 381 shooting victims in our emergency department. 2011, the last year we have data on, that number is now 182 shooting victims. while this is a substantial drop, i submit to you that one is too many. these numbers represent the patients who are transported to the hospital, not the victims

who died at the scene or do not come in for care. many people are killed from homicides, but suicide taking one's life with weapons is much more common in the united states. it is a silent killer since more than twice as many people die of suicide than homicide historically in the united states. there is an hep dim i can of violent crime committed with guns and is a serious public health problem that we must confront head on. * it is incidents like this past week bring these terrible crimes out in the public, but the reality is people are killed every day in this country with weapons that permanently change the lives of the families that they are with. in conclusion, i would like to thank the mayor for inviting me out to stand with supervisor cohen, police chief sur, to support sensible gun control. the trauma center stands ready to care for victims.

any initiative that can reduce guns in my opinion will make the streets and the cities and counties -- cities like san francisco a much safer place to live. i thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you, doctor. today we're focused on ammunition and immediate interruption in the behavior that law enforcement advises us and sees every day that leads to more violence. in the weeks and months to come, the board and the mayor's office will be introducing both more ideas and legislation and resolutions to support federal and state efforts in the same direction. at the same time, we'll also be introducing through our budget support for an ongoing organizing in our community to support nonlaw enforcement efforts to reduce violence, whether it's education, social services, housing, none of that escapes us as to their link in

efforts to reduce violence in our society. with that i want to thank everybody for coming today. and i would ask everyone in san francisco, if not the whole region and the state, to please join us in a national moment of silence that will occur tomorrow morning east coast time, it will be 9:30 a.m., and here in san francisco it will be 6:30 a.m. for a national moment of silence to remember all the victims in sandy hook. of course, at the same time, remember all the victims at our own locally it victims of gun violence. and before and after this moment of silence we will be active doing the things we need to do to reduce violence in our city. thank you.

>> what if you could make a memorial that is more about information and you are never fixed and it can go wherever it wants to go? everyone who has donated to it could use it, host it, share it. >> for quite a great deal of team she was hired in 2005, she struggled with finding the correct and appropriate visual expression. >> it was a bench at one point. it was a darkened room at another point. but the theme always was a theme of how do we call people's attention to the issue of speci species extinction. >> many exhibits do make long detailed explanations about species decline and biology of birds and that is very useful for lots of purposes.

but i think it is also important to try to pull at the strings inside people. >> missing is not just about specific extinct or endangered species. it is about absence and a more fundamental level of not knowing what we are losing and we need to link species loss to habitat loss and really focuses much on the habitat. >> of course the overall mission of the academy has to do with two really fundamental and important questions. one of which is the nature of life. how did we get here? the second is the challenge of sustainability. if we are here how are we going to find a way to stay? these questions resonated very strongly with maya. >> on average a species disappears every 20 minutes.

this is the only media work that i have done. i might never do another one because i'm not a media artist per se but i have used the medium because it seemed to be the one that could allow me to convey the sounds and images here. memorials to me are different from artworks. they are artistic, but memorials have a function. >> it is a beautiful scupltural objective made with bronze and lined with red wood from water tanks in clear lake. that is the scupltural form that gives expression to maya's project. if you think about a cone or a bull horn, they are used to get the attention of the crowd, often to communicate an important message. this project has a very

important message and it is about our earth and what we are losing and what we are missing and what we don't even know is gone. >> so, what is missing is starting with an idea of loss, but in a funny way the shape of this cone is, whether you want to call it like the r.c.a. victor dog, it is listen to the earth and what if we could create a portal that could look at the past, the present and the future? >> you can change what is then missing by changing the software, by changing what is projected and missing. so, missing isn't a static installation. it is an installation that is going to grow and change over time. and she has worked to bring all of this information together from laboratory after laboratory including, fortunately, our great fwroup of researche e-- g researchers at the california academy. >> this couldn't have been more site specific to this place and we think just visually in terms

of its scupltural form it really holds its own against the architectural largest and grandeur of the building. it is an unusual compelling object. we think it will draw people out on the terrace, they will see the big cone and say what is that. then as they approach the cone tell hear these very unusual sounds that were obtained from the cornell orinthology lab. >> we have the largest recording of birds, mammals, frogs and insects and a huge library of videos. so this is an absolutely perfect opportunity for us to team up with a world renown, very creative inspirational artist and put the sounds and sights of the animals that we study into a brand-new context, a context that really allows people to appreciate an esthetic way of the idea that we might live in

the world without these sounds or sites. >> in the scientific realm it is shifting baselines. we get used to less and less, diminished expectations of what it was. >> when i came along lobsters six feet long and oysters 12 inches within they days all the oyster beds in new york, manhattan, the harbor would clean the water. so, just getting people to wake up to what was just literally there 200 years ago, 150 years ago. you see the object and say what is that. you come out and hear these intriguing sounds, sounds like i have never heard in my life. and then you step closer and you almost have a very intimate experience. >> we could link to different institutions around the globe, maybe one per continent, maybe two or three in this country, then once they are all networked, they begin to

communicate with one another and share information. in 2010 the website will launch, but it will be what you would call an informational website and then we are going to try to, by 2011, invite people to add a memory. so in a funny way the member rely grows and there is something organic about how this memorial begins to have legs so to speak. so we don't know quite where it will go but i promise to keep on it 10 years. my goal is to raise awareness and then either protect forests from being cut down or reforest in ways that promote biodiversity. >> biodiverse city often argued to be important for the world's human populations because all of the medicinal plants and uses that we can put to it and fiber that it gives us and food that it gives us. while these are vital and important and worth literally hundreds of billions of dollars,

the part that we also have to be able to communicate is the more spiritual sense of how important it is that we get to live side by side with all of these forms that have three billion years of history behind them and how tragic it would be not commercially and not in a utilitarian way but an emotio l emotional, psychological, spiritual way if we watch them one by one disappear. >> this is sort of a merger between art and science and advocacy in a funny way getting people to wake unand realize what is going on -- wake up and realize what is going on. so it is a memborial trying to get us to interpret history and look to the past. they have always been about lacking at the past so we proceed forward and maybe don't commit the same mistakes.